Jobs / DevOps, SRE, and IT operations / 15-1231.00

Computer Network Support Specialists

Analyze, test, troubleshoot, and evaluate existing network systems, such as local area networks (LAN), wide area networks (WAN), cloud networks, servers, and other data communications networks. Perform network maintenance to ensure networks operate correctly with minimal interruption.

US jobs: 146,190
Median wage: $76,220 a year
Job family: DevOps, SRE, and IT operations

Can agents do the work of computer network support specialists?

We read the evidence at the level of the job family, DevOps, SRE, and IT operations:

Task levelPartialMixed. On SREGym, the best agent fixes 72.2% of injected faults end to end. On ITBench-AA, no model names the root cause of more than half of Kubernetes incidents (best 47%). Infrastructure as code has only generation tests with 2024-era results (IaC-Eval, 36.7%). We found no public benchmark with recent results that tests agents making Terraform changes to live infrastructure.
Project levelUnexploredNo benchmark in our collection tests operations work at project scale, such as a multi-day migration, a platform upgrade, or an on-call rotation.

Benchmarks for the job family

These cover work in devops, sre, and it operations, not always this occupation's tasks.

AIOpsLabby Microsoft Research, UIUC, UC Berkeley and IIScTask level · Accuracy
59.3%Flash · 12 Jan 2025
Emerging
IaC-Evalby University of Michigan and Cisco ResearchTask level · pass@1
36.7%GPT-4 with retrieval-augmented generation · 2024
Emerging
ITBenchby IBM Research and UIUCTask level · SRE incidents resolved
25%ITBench-SRE-Agent-GPT-4o · 2 May 2025
Emerging
ITBench-AAby Artificial Analysis and IBM ResearchTask level · ITBench-AA score
47%Claude Opus 4.7 (Adaptive Reasoning, Max Effort) · 27 May 2026
Emerging
OSWorld-Verifiedby HKU, Salesforce AI Research, Carnegie Mellon University and University of WaterlooTask level · Success rate
90.2%Intelligence-Indeed Agent · 25 Jul 2026
Saturated
SREGymby UIUC and University of TorontoTask level · End-to-end success rate
72.2%GitHub Copilot (GPT-5.6 Sol, max) · 2026
Strong
Terminal-Bench 2.0by Laude Institute and Stanford UniversityTask level · Resolution rate
84.7%NexAU-AHE + GPT-5.5 · 23 Apr 2026
Retired
WorkArenaby ServiceNowTask level · WorkArena-L1 success rate
90.3%IpaziaHPA-Gemini-3-flash-preview · 7 Mar 2026
Saturated

Typical tasks

From O*NET 31.0. Core tasks first. Few of these tasks have a benchmark today.

Back up network data.
Configure security settings or access permissions for groups or individuals.
Analyze and report computer network security breaches or attempted breaches.
Identify the causes of networking problems, using diagnostic testing software and equipment.
Document network support activities.
Configure wide area network (WAN) or local area network (LAN) routers or related equipment.
Install network software, including security or firewall software.
Troubleshoot network or connectivity problems for users or user groups.
Provide telephone support related to networking or connectivity issues.
Evaluate local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN) performance data to ensure sufficient availability or speed, to identify network problems, or for disaster recovery purposes.
Analyze network data to determine network usage, disk space availability, or server function.
Perform routine maintenance or standard repairs to networking components or equipment.

Other job titles for this occupation (70)

Computer Network Specialist · IT Consultant (Information Technology Consultant) · Network Specialist · Network Support Specialist · Network Technical Analyst · Network Technician · Personal Computer Network Analyst · Systems Specialist · Cloud Engineer · Cloud Support Specialist · Computer Network Analyst · Computer Network Support Specialist · Computer Networker · Computer Operations Technician · Computer Systems Specialist · Configuration Technician · Controls Programmer · Customer Engineer · Customer Service Engineer · Customer Support Engineer · Cyber Defense Incident Responder · Deployment Technician (Deployment Tech) · Field Systems Technician · Field Technician (Field Tech) · Help Desk Technician (Help Desk Tech) · Information Technology Network Specialist (IT Network Specialist) · Information Technology Operations Analyst (IT Operations Analyst) · Installation Technician · Internet Network Specialist · Internet Specialist · Internetworking Technician · IT Network Technician (Information Technology Network Technician) · IT Support Technician (Information Technology Support Technician) · IT Tech (Information Technology Technician) · LAN Support Specialist (Local Area Network Support Specialist) · Network Analyst · Network and Threat Support Specialist · Network Applications Specialist · Network Consultant · Network Control Analyst · Network Control Analyst Assistant · Network Data Specialist · Network Desktop Support Specialist · Network Diagnostic Support Specialist · Network Field Technician · Network Management Specialist · Network Operations Analyst · Network Operations Specialist · Network Operations Technician · Network Relations Consultant · Network Services Specialist · Network Support Engineer · Network Support Technician · Network Workstation Technical Specialist · Networking Specialist · NOC Technician (Network Operations Center Technician) · Operations Support Technician · Support Engineer · Support Technician · Surveillance Technician · Systems Support Engineer · Systems Support Representative · Systems Support Specialist · Technical Analyst · Technical Services Specialist · Technical Support Specialist · Technical Support Technician (Technical Support Tech) · Telecommunications Network Technician · VoIP Technician (Voice over Internet Protocol Technician) · WAN Support Specialist (Wide Area Network Support Specialist)